Two Oakland police officers cannot escape liability for an unauthorized, high-speed pursuit in 2022 that tragically ended in a collision that killed a bystander and seriously injured several others, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The decision, by a three-judge panel in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, is a major ruling that allows the family of the deceased man to proceed with their case, which alleges the city and the officers violated the 14th Amendment due process rights of the killed and injured bystanders by engaging in the unauthorized chase, and by leaving the scene of the crash, effectively denying the family medical assistance.
On June 25, 2022, OPD officers Jimmy Marin-Coronel and Walid Abdelaziz initiated an unauthorized chase of a vehicle they believed was involved in a sideshow on International Boulevard. The driver, 19-year-old Arnold Linaldi, fled from the police. The chase reached speeds of up to 100 mph. Linaldi lost control of his car and careened into a group of people and vehicles parked near a taco truck…